Look After You
by ForeignMusicLyrics
Summary: When Firelord Zuko visits his sister, he is not expecting what he finds.


It's nighttime when he visits her for the first time. Her caretakers were obviously surprised to see him there.

"Your Majesty... We were not expecting you to visit her," one man says. Zuko ignores him.

"Where is she?" he questions. The nervous man leads him down a long hallway and stops at a metal door, fumbling with his keys for a minute before he manages to open it. The Firelord shoos him away, entering the cell on his own. Moonlight streams through the barred windows, making patterns on the stone floor. At first he doesn't see her, curled up in the corner of the room as she is. Her body is lying in a fetal position and she hides in the shadows, huddled up on her bed in the darkest corner of the room. She doesn't look up when he enters.

"Azula?"

The door closes behind him, leaving Zuko alone with his little sister. He knows he is taking a big risk by being here; It would be so very easy for Azula to end him in a fit of rage. No one, not even the doctors, could predict her reaction when her brother comes to see her for the first time since... The event.

"Azula? Can you hear me?" he asks, sitting on the side of her bed. It sags under his weight. He can't see much of her, but he can see her muscles relax a bit upon hearing his voice. Upon receiving no verbal response, he frowns. "Azula, I know you are mad at me. But trust me, I put you in here for your own good. They can help you."

After a brief silence, he gets a response. "Oh, really? You truly think... They're trying... To help... Me?" she manages to get out, wheezing in between every few words. Her voice is hoarse and strained, and her breathing shallow and labored.

"Of course! That is why you are in here, for the doctors to help you," he replies.

"That isn't... What it... Feels... Like... To mー" Her words are cut off by a hacking cough that wracks her body. Zuko raises his eyebrows.

"Azula? You okay?" he questions, concern coloring his tone. The coughs do not stop, they only get louder. After what seems like forever, they cease. Zuko gently sets a hand on her hip, trying to lend her some sort of comfort. He can both see and feel her flinch at the contact. His eyes widen in alarm when his hand feels her pelvic bone protruding prominently from her body.

"Azula, have you been eating? Please, you have to eat what they give you. Your body needs food."

She doesn't get the chance to respond as another coughing fit plagues her body. Worried, Zuko presses the back of his hand to her forehead.

He immediately pulls it back, letting out a yelp.

"You're burning up!" he exclaims. It is normal for a firebender to have a slightly raised body temperature, but her body is so hot he can no doubt bake fireflakes upon it. "You have a horrible fever!" he cries. He shoots little flames at the lanterns on the walls of the room and the small candle by her bed, illuminating the previously dark room. Slowly, he turns his head back to his baby sister, fearing what he may see.

It is far worse than he could have ever imagined.

Her emaciated body is littered with bruises. One of her eyes is nearly black with bruises and swollen almost shut. Her cheeks are sunken and bony and little spots of blood decorate the filthy rags she wears. She is sweating profusely, no doubt due to the incredibly high fever she is running. Her chest is moving up and down, but only barely. Looking upon her abused body, Zuko understands why she had flinched upon human contact. Someone has obviously placed a world of her upon his baby sister's shoulders.

His first reaction is denial. No, no, please no. This cannot be happening! He doesn't want to believe what he sees before him, because if this is true... This is his fault. He made the decision to put her here. She doesn't look like she will survive the night, and if she dies, he might as well have been the one to have killed her.

"Now... You know," she manages to get out. Zuko is at a loss for words.

"I... Azula... I can't... I am so, so sorry," he choked out, taking her hand in his despite the heat. "I never thought..."

Zuko can't finish. His feelings of guilt are suddenly trumped by anger, blood boiling anger. He wants to kill each and every person who hurt his sister in this place. Hell, he wants to kill everybody who knew about it and failed to report it! He is shaking with grief and pain and sorrow and horror and _rage._

"You're safe now, Azula. I'm not going to let them hurt you any more," he promises her, barely able to form a sentence through his violent anger. "They will never hurt _anyone_ again."

After that, Zuko does two things that night. First and foremost, he takes his broken baby sister home. He calls upon the best physicians he knows and begs them to save her. He refuses to leave the room until he knows that she is going to survive, to heal.

Second, once he has verified that his only remaining immediate family member will live through the night, he returns to the so-called mental hospital.

That night, he does what needs to be done.


End file.
